Alpha Universe: Step Into Christmas
by VibeQuake
Summary: Perry, Priya, and their kids celebrate Christmas together as a proper family for the first time since the twins were born. Three-shot.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: I recommend listening to the Christmas song Step Into Christmas at least once before reading this two-shot. Having it playing on repeat while you read is highly recommended but not necessary XD**

* * *

 _Welcome to my Christmas song, I'd like to thank you for the year._

* * *

Pippa hummed to the tune of _Thank You Santa_ as she danced around the living room and threw tinsel everywhere.

"You do realise the tinsel is supposed to be for the tree, right?" asked her older brother, Teddy, who was standing in the doorway.

 _"_ _Joy to the wo-o-orld!"_ she sang, tossing a bauble at Teddy, who caught it easily and put it back on the tree.

"Pippa, the tinsel is for the tree."

Pippa beamed at him and threw another bauble in his face, this one he didn't catch. It didn't hurt him, however, so he simply picked it up and put it back on the tree, grinning. "I know you're excited about Christmas, but can you calm down a bit?"

Pippa skipped over to the other side of the tree and wrapped tinsel around it, happily pulling it as tightly as if she was trying to strangle the tree.

"Pip, don't strangle the tree," Hazel said, coming into the room while carrying a pile of wrapped presents, which she put under the tree.

"I think it's lucky we got a fake one this year," Quinn contributed, putting her own pile of wrapped presents under the tree. "I don't think a real one would be able to take the rigorous testing that Pip subjected this one too."

* * *

 _So I'm sending you this Christmas card, to say it's nice to have you here._

* * *

"It has to be perfect," the youngest child announced. "PERFECT!" she added loudly, glaring at her sisters. "So no messing it up with your weird packages!"

Hazel chuckled as Quinn raised an eyebrow. "Do you mean the Christmas presents?"

Pippa got down on her knees and inspected the presents suspiciously. All three of her siblings were laughing at her "testing". After poking each one, she stood up and dusted off her hands. "They're good," she announced. "Good wrapping. Though Quinn's presents could do with more tape and Hazel's could do with less tape. This one looks like it's wrapped entirely in tape, Hazel."

Hazel attempted to cover up her laughter at her little sister's seriousness and dedication to her self-assigned role. "Okay," she choked through her laughter.

* * *

 _I'd like to sing about all the things, your eyes and mind can see._

* * *

At that moment, Priya's voice called from up the stairs: "Pippa! It's your turn to wrap your presents!"

"COMING!" hollered Pippa, causing her siblings to flinch from the loud noise, and bounded out of the room. Almost at the same time, Pippa's twin brother came through the door, shaking his head.

"She's going to crash into something one day," he said.

"Probably," agreed Teddy, retrieving the various baubles from around the room and putting them back on the tree. "All wrapped up?"

"Assuming that's a pun using the phrase "wrap up" to mean "finish" and comparing it with the literal use of wrapping presents…" Anton grinned at his older brother. "Yes. I am "wrapped up"." He made quotation marks with his fingers over the words "wrapped up".

Everyone in the vicinity rolled their eyes.

* * *

 _So hop aboard the turntable, oh step into Christmas with me._

* * *

The final child came through the door at that point, using his powers to levitate a giant pocketed banner, which held every Christmas card the family had received. All in all, there must have been about two hundred.

"Where is that going to go?" Teddy asked, amused.

Hermes responded to that by hanging it diagonally across the living room, causing several cards to fall off. The girls giggled as Hermes retrieved the fallen cards and put them back, stepping back to admire his handiwork.

"It's in everyone's way," Teddy said.

"The only other room big enough to hold it is ours," Hermes said pointedly. "Do you want it in there?"

"No way."

"Then stop complaining."

* * *

 _Step into Christmas, let's join together._

* * *

Hazel and Quinn sat down on the sofa as Anton went over to the window. "Do you think it's going to snow?" he asked.

"You're the genius, you figure it out," grumbled Teddy from the other side of the room, causing everyone to laugh.

"I hope it is," Anton said wistfully. "I'd love a white Christmas."

"The last time that happened, Teddy was still an egg," grinned Perry, their father, as he came into the room. "Who exactly was it who decorated the tree?"

"Pippa," replied Teddy, Hazel, Quinn, and Hermes at once.

"Because all the purple baubles are on one side of the tree, instead of spread around."

"Okay, well, that was my fault," Teddy admitted, sitting down on the sofa. "Pip was throwing them at me so I just put them back wherever. I didn't realise there was a system."

Perry inspected the tree. "Also, all six candy canes are missing."

"I only had one," Hazel and Teddy both immediately chorused.

"Me too," agreed Hermes, and Anton was also nodding.

"I haven't had any, I'd like to point out," Quinn said, raising her hand.

"Pippa," sighed Perry. "Note to self: next year, buy more candy canes."

* * *

 _We can watch the snow fall forever and ever._

* * *

At that moment, the subject of their conversation came running into the room with a pile of presents, which she put under the tree, shoving Hazel's presents out of the way. Teddy laughed aloud as Hazel gave a yelp and raced to stop Pippa from damaging her presents.

"You heathen," she hissed good-humorously.

"I don't think that means what you think it means," Anton said, hopping up onto the windowsill.

"What does it mean, then?" Hazel asked.

"Heathen: a person who does not belong to a widely held religion, a follower of a polytheistic religion, or a person regarded as lacking culture or moral principles." Anton gave a smirk. "Synonyms include pagan, infidel, non-believer, atheist, agnostic, sceptic, and heretic."

"Yes, thank you, Mr Wikipedia," Hazel snapped, making everyone laugh again.

"I don't belong to a widely held religion," Pippa said. "Does that make me a heathen?"

"I don't think that would be what makes you a heathen, Pip," said Teddy, grinning, as he leant on the fireplace. "I think it was the last thing. What was it, Anton?"

"A person regarded as lacking culture or moral principles," Anton said helpfully.

"Yeah, that."

Pippa frowned. "I lack culture and moral principles?"

"It's a joke," Hazel explained frustratedly. "I wasn't being serious."

"Oh." Pippa playfully shoved her sister, causing her to fall over. "Love you, sis!"

"Yeah, yeah."

* * *

 _Eat, drink and be merry, come along with me._

* * *

"What time is it?" asked Hermes. "And what time are we going to bed?"

"The answer to both of those questions is the same," Perry said. "Nine o' clock."

"Bed at nine o' clock?" Teddy said incredulously.

Pippa and Anton both obediently got up and left the room. The older platypuses watched them go. "Why are they going to bed at nine?" Hazel asked. "And why do WE have to go to bed at nine?"

"Because Pip and Ant are going to wake us all up at five o' clock in the morning," Perry replied. "When that happens, you'll be glad I made you lot go to bed early."

"True," Hermes said, yawning. "I'm already tired, and waking up at five won't do that any favours. Night, Dad."

"Goodnight, Hermes," Perry said as Hermes left the room. Pretty soon, the other three followed, leaving only Perry in the living room.

* * *

 _Step into Christmas, the admission's free._

* * *

Perry had time to fix up the decorations on the tree and began to tidy the cushions on the sofa until Priya came in. "The kids are all in bed," she confirmed. "How'd you get them to go so early?"

"I reminded them how early Pip and Ant are going to be waking us up," Perry replied.

Priya smirked. "Indeed. But I'm glad they're enthusiastic about Christmas. It would be no fun if they don't enjoy it."

"They enjoy getting presents," Perry snickered.

"No, it's more than that," Priya argued. "When I was wrapping presents with Pippa, she was taking the time to personally select wrapping paper with the patterns she thought each of her siblings would like the most. She spent ages writing each label and each card, putting a personalised message on each. Pippa loves giving just as much as she does receiving, which is really how we raised our kids, isn't it?"

Perry nodded. "Yes, it is. We raised our kids well."

There was a pause.

"Wine?"

"Love some."

The chiming of the church bells in the distance woke the two adult platypuses. They both counted the bells: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve.

"Merry Christmas, Priy," whispered Perry to his mate.

"Merry Christmas, Perry."


	2. Chapter 2

_Take care in all you do next year, and keep smiling through the days_

* * *

"IT'S CHRISTMAS!" Pippa shrieked, instantly waking everyone in the house.

Teddy, Hermes, and Hazel all fell out of their beds in fright at the sudden loud noise.

Quinn groaned and hid her head under the covers.

Anton simply swung his legs over his bed—which was the bottom of a bunk bed—and stood up, stretching and yawning.

Perry and Priya did much the same, though they grinned at each other at their youngest daughter's enthusiasm. "Five o' clock," chuckled Priya, looking at the time. "Right on schedule."

"WAKE UP!" hollered Pippa, who was standing on the landing outside the four bedrooms.

Teddy and Hermes came out of their shared room, both of them yawning and tired. Quinn followed a minute later. However, Hazel was bouncing around by the time she emerged from her and Quinn's room. "It's Christmas, cheer up!" she enthused, slapping Teddy on the back. "No grumpiness on Christmas!"

"I'm not grumpy," Teddy said grumpily. "I'm tired."

Now Hermes had caught the bug. He was beaming uncontrollably. "I love Christmas Day," he said happily.

"Did you know that the first printed reference to a Christmas tree was in 1531 in Germany?" Anton said, coming out of his room.

"No, Anton," Teddy grumbled. "I didn't know that. And frankly, I don't care."

"Cheer up, bro! It's Christmas!" Hazel beamed, hugging her brother tightly around the waist.

"So you keep telling us," Quinn grinned.

Hermes nudged Teddy, a smirk on his face. "Someone's not a morning person," he sang.

Then Perry and Priya emerged from their bedroom. Everyone spent a few minutes all hugging each other and wishing the others a merry Christmas.

* * *

 _If we can help to entertain you, oh we will find the ways_

* * *

"Presents!" Pippa shrieked, appearing out of her and Anton's room. "Everyone downstairs!"

Pippa bounded down the stairs first, taking them at least four at a time. Hazel and Hermes followed quickly. Quinn and Anton were slower, and Teddy slower still. Perry and Priya brought up the rear.

By the time everyone was downstairs, Pippa, Hazel, and Hermes had already sorted the presents into piles according to the name on the label. Everyone had exactly six presents, apart from Perry and Priya, who had seven each.

Christmas in their household meant that everyone was to get all the others just one present, with Perry and Priya acting as one entity in that respect. Therefore, each of the children had one present from each of their siblings and one from their parents. However, Perry and Priya both had seven because they received one from each of their children, plus one from their mate. More often than not, everyone ended up getting what they wanted.

They began opening their presents.

* * *

 _So merry Christmas one and all, there's no place I'd rather be._

* * *

Everything Teddy received was to do with the model trains he collected. He loved trains, and he had a model train set in his and Hermes's room. He was always looking to expand, so that was why he was grateful to receive more trains, track, and accessories for his set.

Hazel got mostly beauty products, since that was what she was interested in.

Quinn got some books to do with first aid and medical knowledge, including the history of medicine, which she always found fascinating.

Hermes got one treadmill from the whole family. Since he wasn't an OWCA agent who went on regular missions, he needed some way of staying fit.

Pippa got DVDs of all the movies she loved and also a special DVD that had been made by some agents of OWCA to do with training and giving training tips.

And Anton received all books, including the largest and most comprehensive dictionary ever made.

Perry gave Priya a beautiful bracelet made of pure sapphire.

And Priya gave Perry a beautiful silver photo frame with a beautiful photo of the two of them and their six children.

Needless to say, everyone was very happy with their Christmas gifts this year.

* * *

 _Than asking you if you'd oblige, stepping into Christmas with me._

* * *

Teddy immediately ran upstairs to implement the new things he had received for his train set. Hazel followed, most likely to try out her new beauty products. Quinn, Pippa, and Anton went upstairs to put their books and DVDs in their rooms.

Hermes levitated the treadmill into the basement, where he decided to try it out. The only treadmills he had ever used were the ones in OWCA's gym, so he wondered if this would be the same. He hopped onto it, reading from the instruction manual as he did, and turned it on.

He spent a long time running on the treadmill.

Upstairs, Quinn and Anton had quickly put their books away. When Anton left the room, Pippa was eagerly examining all her new DVDs, so he left her to it. They both ended up in Teddy and Hermes's room, where they saw the former struggling to open the boxes that his train tracks came in.

"Need some help?" Quinn asked.

"I don't mind," Teddy replied without looking up.

So the two of them came further into the room, looking at the train set that was already set up.

"Where are you going to add all this, Ted?" Anton asked.

"I have a tunnel here," Teddy replied, holding up the box he was digging into. "I'm going to replace that section of track-." Here, he pointed at a long straight bit of track. "-with it. You can start taking that bit of track up, if you want."

Taking that as an order, Quinn and Anton began gently removing the pieces of track from the table. When they were done, Teddy put the tunnel in place and began fastening it. While he did that, his brother and sister began unpacking the rest of the items Teddy received for Christmas.

"I've never done model trains before," Anton said. "I've read about them, though."

"Of course you have," grinned Quinn. "Is there anything you haven't read about?"

"I'm sure there is. Somewhere."

"Somewhere WAY off in the distance," Quinn chuckled.

"Indeed, meine Schwester."

Quinn looked at him, unimpressed. "Since when do you know German?"

"Since I tried to learn about the history of the German Christmas market but the only book I could find on it was in German," Anton replied, smirking. "Luckily, the library also stocks a German/English dictionary and several German textbooks."

Quinn shook her head. "You are a mystery."

"Why, thank you, soror mea."

"And that was…?"

"Latin."

"I'm not even going to ask."

"Thank you."


	3. Chapter 3

_Step into Christmas, let's join together._

* * *

Later in the day, Perry and Priya were preparing the Christmas lunch while the kids played with their new things. When dinner was ready, they called the children to the table.

Perry and Priya were sitting at the heads of the table. The girls were sitting along one side, and the boys were sitting along the other. The lunch lay in front of them.

"I hope everyone's enjoying Christmas so far," Priya began, standing up. "And I hope you'll join me when I toast to this family. We've had our ups and downs, certainly."

"From where we were born-," Perry added, with a glance at Teddy and Hermes.

"-to what we've accomplished-," Priya added, with a glance at Hazel and Quinn.

"-to the unfair expectations and treatment we've received," Perry finished, both his and Priya's eyes flicking to the twins.

"But we can all agree that we're very glad to be sitting here together, as a family," Priya said. "I personally can't see any other life I would want. Any life without you gorgeous kids in front of us wouldn't be a life worth living, in my opinion."

"Very kind of you to say," Anton said, causing everyone to laugh.

"To this family," Perry said, lifting his glass of cola.

Everyone mirrored his words and movement, clinking glasses with the others.

"Now we can eat," Priya said, sitting back down.

The family began tucking in.

* * *

 _We can watch the snow fall forever and ever._

* * *

"Wanna pull a cracker, Anty?" Pippa asked mischievously across the table to her twin.

"Only if you stop calling me Anty," Anton replied.

"Deal." Pippa's eyes twinkled as she offered the other end of the Christmas cracker to her twin brother.

Anton cringed as the cracker exploded, causing a small toy to fly out and land in Pippa's lap. She gave a squeal of delight as she held up the tiniest Rubik's cube anyone had ever seen. Anton quickly snatched it from her and completed it in about ten seconds.

"Read the joke," Pippa urged. "It's in your half."

Anton picked up the tiny slip of paper, read it quickly, and rolled his eyes. "The Past, The Present, and The Future walked into a bar. It was tense."

Perry, Priya, and the three oldest siblings burst into laughter. Hermes faceplanted the table, while Anton hid his head in his hand, and Pippa looked confused. "I don't get it," she said.

Before anyone could explain, Terry and Hazel had pulled a cracker together. While Teddy examined the plastic paperclip he had found inside, Hazel read the joke through and promptly burst into laughter again. She was laughing too much to read it, so Quinn took the slip of paper from her and read it aloud: "What do you call a can opener that doesn't work?"

Only the two adult platypuses knew the answer, but they kept silent.

"What?" Hermes asked, still faceplanting the table.

Quinn was grinning as she said, "A CAN'T opener."

That set Hazel off yet again, but this time, Pippa joined her in laughter and Teddy was the one not laughing. Hermes let out a groan. "No more, _please_."

Unfortunately for Hermes, Pippa pulled another cracker—this one with Priya—and read out the joke herself: "What do you call a guy with a rubber toe?"

Nobody answered.

"Roberto, of course," Pippa replied, before laughing hysterically.

Teddy was more amused at Hermes's reaction. The poor platypus slid down in his chair until he was almost under the table. "Oh my God," he groaned. "Please stop."

"Why are _you_ so against these jokes?" Perry asked amusedly. "I would have thought Mr Grammar over there-." He jerked his thumb towards Anton. "-would be the one hating the jokes."

"Oh, they're jokes all right," Hermes sighed. "Unfortunately, they even suck at being jokes."

"That makes no sense," Pippa said, tapping her older brother's leg with her foot.

" _You_ make no sense."

* * *

 _Eat, drink and be merry, come along with me_

* * *

Now it was the very end of the day. Perry and Priya had already gone to bed, tired out. The six kids were sitting on the sofas, all happy with the day they'd had.

"Merry Christmas, guys," Teddy said finally.

The others echoed it back.

"It's been an amazing year, hasn't it?" Quinn said. "So much has happened."

"Mostly crazy OWCA stuff," sighed Hazel. "Sometimes I wish our lives were normal."

"What's normal for a bunch of multi-coloured platypuses?" retorted Anton.

"I don't know," Hazel replied. "Okay, so maybe not normal."

"Less chaotic," suggested Hermes.

Hazel pointed at him. "Yeah, that. I mean, missions are fun and everything, but sometimes we just want a day off that we can enjoy in peace without some villain trying to take over and/or destroy the Tri-State Area."

"OWCA wouldn't be doing their jobs right if there weren't any villains trying to take over and/or destroy stuff," grinned Pippa. "I mean, there wouldn't be any point in OWCA if all the villains decided not to take over or destroy anything today. Right?"

Everyone agreed.

"Well, I'm going to bed now," Teddy said, standing up. "Some people don't like getting up at five every morning." He was looking pointedly at Pippa, who grinned sheepishly.

"I think I'll go too," Quinn agreed, following Teddy out of the room. "Goodnight, all."

"Goodnight," came a chorus.

Hazel and Hermes followed the two of them soon after, and then it was just the twins in the living room. As Anton stood up, preparing to go upstairs too, Pippa bounced across the room and hugged her twin fiercely. Anton blinked in surprised, before hugging her back.

"Merry Christmas, Anton," Pippa whispered.

"Merry Christmas, Pippa."

"I-I love you."

"I love you too."

Pippa let go of Anton, slapped him on the shoulder, and then bounced out of the room. Anton smiled and went to follow, turning out the light as he went.

It had been the perfect Christmas.

* * *

 _Step into Christmas, the admission's free_

* * *

 **Merry Christmas everyone! :D**


End file.
